Issue 20: Nonfiction
- Mr. Brain, He Want a Song by Barry Hannah
Ah well, the brain wants a song. And the message is always the same - we are alive and dying. Hot wind in the skull. No possum, no sop, no tatters until we sing the song. You have to act or not eat. Sing the song, then fall on your victuals, and become a man. Otherwise you are a half-man, a zombie, an univited guest, if you feel like me when I can't sing. This might go on for months. Food is bitter and friends are flat.
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- How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Business by David Kiefbar
That was when, for reasons that remain unclear, I started watching wrestling again. I flipped past it while channel surfing, remembered that it still existed, and lingered until the show ended, making a note to watch again the next week. As it turns out, I’d caught the brief heyday of World Championship Wrestling, Ted Turner’s now-defunct plaything that bled money from perpetual mismanagement but put on decent shows with guys I grew to like. Their most regular storyline revolved around the chicanery of a rebel faction called the New World Order. In fact, it was pretty much the only storyline. Hence, the quality declined quickly and I switched back to WWE, which was gearing up for the biggest, most successful rivalry in wrestling history: Steve Austin versus the real WWE owner, Vince McMahon.
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Interview with Marjorie Perloff
"There is no doubt that the internet has revolutionized publishing. I agree with Kenneth Goldsmith's axiom that “If it isn’t on the internet, it doesn’t exist.” But that doesn’t spell the end of the printed book. On the contrary! Surfers of the internet, discovering an electronic journal or website, then often want to own the book in question. I know in my own case, my book Wittgenstein’s Ladder (University of Chicago Press, 1996) has sold especially well (some 6,000 copies, in both hard and paperback, which is very good for a scholarly book) and at least three of its six chapters are available on my website and the Chicago website. But I do think the electronic journals will replace the print ones."
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